


You Always Say It's Gonna Get Better

by MissBaudelaire (IWillBeTheEndofYou)



Category: Game Grumps, NSP - Fandom, Ninja Sex Party - Fandom
Genre: Danny loves his girl, Depression, F/M, Still not broken, Therapy, Working it Out, couples fighting, it's gonna be okay, just try, reader - Freeform, you are also okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-20
Updated: 2017-11-20
Packaged: 2019-02-04 14:02:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12772590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IWillBeTheEndofYou/pseuds/MissBaudelaire
Summary: After the events of The Chemicals Between Us, Danny and the Reader struggle with more hard emotions. Danny eventually demands therapy.





	You Always Say It's Gonna Get Better

**Author's Note:**

> A comment from a lovely reader named Lexi suggested that Danny and the Reader go to therapy. I decided that was a lovely idea, and here it is. Lexi, thanks so much!

She sat with her arms folded tightly across her chest. She didn't look at her phone. She didn't flip through any of the magazine fanned out across the table. Her legs were crossed at the knee. She was the very picture of defiance.

Danny tried not to let it bother him. He hummed under his breath, flicked through his phone. He let one foot swing in time to the song he hummed. He even thought about picking up one of the glossy magazines, even though he had no interest in an Italian vacation.

The office was nice. Comfortable. It could have been any other waiting room, only it didn't reek of disinfectant like a doctor's office, or of sheer terror like a dentist's office. There was only the quiet ticking of the clock and the faint tapping of the receptionist at her computer.

“This is stupid.” she mumbled.

“What is?” Danny knew what she was going to say. They'd fought this fight at least four times. But it was better to indulge her. Maybe she'd have her thoughts in order for the therapist.

“Being here in this office. I don't need to go to therapy. If you need to go to therapy, then I support you in that. But I don't need to go with you.” her anxiety snapped through her like a cable. She'd been so tightly wound for days. 

Danny decided he'd had enough the day he came home and asked what she wanted for dinner and she'd ended up yelling at him for always pressuring her. They'd had a twenty minute fight, and he found the card for her therapist. It was true she had only had to go every other month or so for awhile now. But the therapist had said that she might need to go more often than that. That sometimes life changed and depression and anxiety changed too. And if she needed more help, the therapist was always going to be there for her.

Of course, she'd never admit she needed help. If she was trying to reach something off a high shelf, if she was trying to fold a fitted sheet, even if she dropped a plate, she never wanted help. Danny didn't get it. He never hesitated to ask her for help, and she never hesitated to give it to him. Couldn't she see that he only wanted the best for her, just like she wanted for him?

“Baby girl,” he sighed and rubbed his eyes, feeling a headache start to brew there. “I love you very much, and I can see that you've been struggling. I'm just wondering if we should touch base with someone who has a little more education in this than me?”

“You didn't give me a chance.” she snapped. “You told me you'd made the appointment, and if I wasn't going to come you weren't sure you could do this with me anymore.” tears welled in her eyes, and he winced. It was true that after he'd made the appointment, he told her he wanted her to go. He hadn't asked. And she said no, flatly. Told him he had no business making appointments for her, said that he wasn't in charge of her mental health.

“I don't think I'm in charge.” he yelled at her. “I'm just not going to sit here and watch you fall apart like this. You're not the only one who suffers when you're like this.”

“If you don't want to suffer with me, you don't have to!” her hands were trembling.

“Maybe I don't want to.” Danny let his voice drop. She inhaled sharply then, swallowed, and said tightly she'd be there at the appointment with him.

“I didn't mean it like that.” Danny wanted to reach out and put his hand on hers. He wanted to hold onto her, cuddle her close until her breathing slowed into a regular pace. Wanted to kiss her and whisper that he hadn't meant anything he'd said that hurt her. That it had all just been a mistake, they could go home and order Chinese and eat it in bed. 

“Didn't you mean it?” she murmured.

He had meant it. He had meant that he was so tired of watching her struggle and not know how to help her. He needed to know what to do for her. She just wiped at her eyes and crossed her arms again.

“I love you.” he put his phone aside. “I love you very much.”

“But you shouldn't use your love to force me to do what you want me to do.”

“No, I shouldn't do that, and I didn't do that. Look, honey, can we just save it for the therapist? I don't know how to explain this to you.” helplessness bubbled up inside of him. “It's okay to need help.”

“I know that. Do you?” before he could respond, the door opened and the therapist called them back.

**

It was a long session, Danny thought. Went two hours. The therapist apologized to both of them for not realizing that things had gotten so far with his girl. They discussed some boundaries, and Danny apologized for hurting her feelings with making the appointment. They talked about the ones we love reaching out to help us, and his girl apologized for making him feel like he'd done the wrong thing. 

And they hashed through just what had been bugging her. Seasonal depression, the therapist said. Some days are harder than others. A recommendation for perhaps a med change, a promise to speak to her psychiatrist. Her confession she'd been having nightmares, Danny's guilt for not being there when she had them.

Danny whispering he didn't want to leave her. Admitting that ultimatums aren't always healthy. Holding her hand, telling her he only wanted her to be healthy. Brushing away her tears and telling her that she didn't have to 

The drive home was quiet, but the tension between them was gone. She leaned her head against the glass as he drove. When he looked over at her at a light, she was asleep. Pulling up to their apartment, Danny stopped for a moment. He reached over and brushed her hair away from her eyes and smiled. She looked so tired, so very small.

Danny walked around to the other side of the car, shushing her when she murmured as he undid her seat belt. He lifted her up and carried her bridal style. He laid her down, pulled off her shoes and then laid beside her, curling around her tight. 

“I missed you.” she mumbled sleepily, pressing her face in his chest.

“I miss you, too.” he whispered back, kissing the top of her head.


End file.
